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Russia's Project 22350 'Admiral Gorshkov' class frigates

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. The cutting-edge frigate Admiral Kasatonov under construction for the Russian Navy at the St. Petersburg-based Severnaya Verf Shipyard will enter sea trials in December 2018, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Korolyov said on Monday.

The lead warship of this series, the Admiral Gorshkov, was delivered to the Navy in the summer of 2018 and the construction of two more frigates (the Admiral Golovko and the Admiral Isakov) continues at the slipways of the Severnaya Verf Shipyard in St. Petersburg.

Project 22350 frigates are the Russian Navyís most advanced warships in their class. These frigates displace about 5,000 tonnes and can develop a speed of 29 knots. They are armed with Oniks and Kalibr missiles and the Poliment-Redut air defense missile system.

Gorshkov is the only Russian combat ship to be equipped with BrahMos missiles. BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile developed by the BrahMos Aerospace, a collaboration between Russia and India.

The missile has a range of 180 miles (290km) and is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of up to 660lb.

Ground and sea targets can be successfully hit by the missile while travelling at an altitude as low as ten metres (30ft) and at a speed of Mach 2.8, three times faster than the US-made subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile. The Russian Navy plans to equip the ship with six BrahMos missiles.

The new warship is expected to be deployed with the Russian Navy Northern Fleetís 43rd Missile Ship Division. The 5,400-ton Admiral Gorshkov is the largest surface combatant to be built by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to Russian Vice Admiral Viktor Bursuk, the Russian Navy will operate four Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Admiral Gorshkov-class will become the mainstay of the Russian Navyís surface force in the imminent future. As I reported last month, the ship took 12 years from keel-laying to activation: